Read your BACON. Since you asked for it – it’s not SPAM.

Ahhhh…. the internet…. so many sites… so many people connected… so much sharing…. so many distractions…. maybe there can be too many email newsletters.

While catching up with a client last week over dinner, our round table enjoyed good conversation with great questions.

Sum up the year in just two words. My answer: medium well.

After comparing our annual highlights, the conversation turned to honest daily “drags”–the friction you don’t notice in and of itself, but that, in the aggregate, over time, add up.

Half of us at the table admitted to more than 10,000 unread emails. One person had less than ten. I asked for a single productivity tip:

So I asked for a single productivity tip:

The answer: Unrroll.me. A service that will combine all of the newsletters you’ve found yourself signed up for into a single, weekly compendium.

It removes the temptation away from clicking into every available rabbit hole.

At this point, it would be fair for you to ask why we subscribe to so many newsletters in the first place. Because as designers, we’re curious. We like to have daily doses of interruptions. Great work is often the combination of influences, or what happens when multiple influences rub up against each other.

Here are a few of my favourites:

5-Bullet Friday. From Tim Ferriss: “Every Friday, I send out an exclusive email with the five coolest things I’ve found (or explored) that week.

Ashoka Canada: From the people who coined the term ‘social entrepreneurship’ and believe “Everyone is a Changemaker.”

Big Think: “Big ideas from fields outside your own that you can apply toward the questions and challenges in your own life.”

Dan Pink: The irregular and irreverent Pink newsletter subscription also comes with a bonus list of 20 books that have influenced Dan. Two of his books (Drive and A Whole New Mind) are on my list.

Further: “Further is a once-a-week email newsletter that helps you maximize your purpose, performance, and potential.”